HANOI ,Farmers in Vietnam's Mekong Delta rice belt have nearly finished planting their summer-autumn crop and have harvested the grain in many areas to avoid possible damage from seasonal floods, state-run media said.The official Vietnam News Agency on Friday cited an agriculture ministry report as saying 95 percent of the 1.58 million hectares (3.9 acres) targeted for the delta's summer-autumn crop have been planted and that 10 percent of planted areas had been harvested.
The delta grows three crops a year and the current crop is its second highest yielding after the highest quality winter-spring crop.
Vietnam is the world's third largest rice exporter after Thailand and India.
The report-said rains in southern Vietnam, which includes the Mekong Delta, have helped speed crop planting.
Rice traders said the current crop should be safe from seasonal floods, which normally arrive late next month and peak in October, thanks to planting start and a newly built river bank system in the upstream provinces.
Agriculture experts have forecast the summer-autumn crop paddy output at more than seven million tonnes, similar to last year when there was only slight flood damage.
They said the crop's forecast output, along with the 8.4 million tonnes of paddy yielded from the winter-spring crop, should ensure sufficient supply for Vietnam's 80 million people and for exports.
The agriculture ministry has said Vietnam can achieve the export target this year of 3.5 million tonnes.
Government figures showed the country had exported 1.91 million tonnes of rice in the January-May period, up 47.4 percent on a year.